By-election counting process

Updated: 21 September 2018

Below is an outline of the counting processes which must be followed under the Commonwealth Electoral Act 1918 (the Electoral Act) before the AEC is able to declare the polls and return the writs to the Speaker of the House of Representatives.

Counting on by-election night

Following the close of polls at 6pm the AEC will count all ordinary votes cast at static polling places and early voting centres located throughout the division.

The initial scrutiny and counting of the ballot papers occurs in the polling places, early voting centres and central scrutiny sites, and cannot start until after 6pm local time on polling day. This involves counting the first preferences marked on the ballot papers and conducting the two-candidate preferred (TCP) count.

Counting after by-election night – fresh scrutiny

By law, once by-election night counts are completed a ‘fresh scrutiny’ of votes is required. This is a re-check of all ordinary ballot papers received from every polling place, early voting centre and mobile polling team in the days following polling day.

It should be noted that there are a number of other concurrent and sequential steps relating to declaration votes (as outlined below) that must also be completed. Following the completion of fresh scrutiny, a full distribution of preferences is also carried out for each polling place.

Scrutiny of declaration votes

The AEC will start counting declaration votes (which include postal votes) on polling night and will continue in the days following polling day. This includes the Sunday following polling day when a significant level of counting and processing work takes place.

Declaration of the poll

There are a number of conditions contained in section 284 of the Electoral Act (also reproduced in the editor’s notes in this release) before deciding when a declaration of the poll can be made. The AEC must be satisfied beyond any doubt that the result is definitive.

Previous recent by-elections

To place these processes in context, at recent federal by-elections a declaration of the poll occurred in the following timeframes.

Declaration of the poll

By-election

Polling day

Declaration of the poll

Canning

19 September 2015

25 September 2015

North Sydney

5 December 2015

22 December 2015

New England

2 December 2017

6 December 2017

Bennelong

16 December 2017

21 December 2017

Batman

17 March 2018

21 March 2018

Braddon, Mayo and Fremantle

28 July 2018

1 August 2018

Longman and Perth

28 July 2018

11 August 2018

While these timeframes are a helpful indication of potential future poll declaration the timing of a declaration does ultimately depend entirely on the results meeting one of the conditions.

Return of the writs

The writs will be returned to the Speaker of the House of Representatives soon after the declaration of the poll has taken place.

Conditions to enable declaration of the poll

Absolute majority of enrolment: The total first preference vote received by the leading candidate represents more than 50% of the total number of electors entitled to vote in the by-election.

If this does not meet the requirement for a declaration then:

Absolute majority of votes cast: The total first preference vote received by the leading candidate represents more than 50% of the formal first preference ordinary votes plus declaration votes issued.

If this does not meet the requirement for a declaration then:

Absolute majority of total first preferences: The total first preference vote received by the leading candidate represents more than 50% of the formal first preference ordinary votes plus declaration votes yet to be dealt with.

If this does not meet the requirement for a declaration then:

Absolute majority based on assured TCP candidates: If the candidate with the second most formal first preference votes has MORE formal first preference votes than the sum of the formal first preference votes obtained by all of the lower ranked candidates plus declaration votes yet to be dealt with, the final TCP Candidates ARE assured. That being the case the leading candidate can be declared elected based on the TCP result.

(The full distribution of preferences cannot legally commence until after the 13th day following the by-election in order for all eligible postal votes to be included.)

If this does not meet the requirement for a declaration then:

Absolute majority following a distribution of preferences: The total votes received by the leading candidate following a full distribution of preferences represents more than 50% of the formal votes.

The declaration of the polls will be conducted publicly by the DRO as soon as possible and in negotiation with the leading candidate. Advance notice of the declaration is also provided to unsuccessful candidates.

For the by-election, additional experienced AEC staff are being deployed to assist post polling day processing, and ensure that the result is known as soon as practicable. However, scrutiny duration will be largely determined by a combination of factors including the number of polling places, the size of total enrolment, elector turn-out, the number of candidates, and the level of informal voting.